Join the Royal Historical Society Victoria to launch the publication of Code of Silence: How Australian Women Helped Win the War, featuring author Diana Thorp in conversation with Professor Clare Wright
Date: 12 November 2025
Time: 6pm - 8pm
Cost: Free
Location: RHSV Gallery Downstairs. 239 A'Beckett St, Melbourne, Victoria 3000 Australia + online
Eighty years after the end of World War II, intriguing stories of the crucial contributions of women on the Australian home front are emerging.
As war climbed to a crescendo in the Asia-Pacific, the Australian government called in a new weapon: women. Within this female arsenal was a group so significant that the women who bravely assumed these roles were sworn to secrecy – a vow that was to outlive the war.
As war inched closer to home, they became a secret weapon, intercepting enemy messages and passing intelligence between local networks and allies across the globe, from Bletchley Park to the United States and across the Asia-Pacific. Some information was so sensitive it was burned to ensure its security.
They were among the thousands of women, many still teenagers, who stepped up to join the army, the navy and the air force during the war, taking on unprecedented roles during an international crisis. Victory attained, they demobilised and returned home. Secret work or not, their roles have remained largely untold. Until now.
This is not just an extraordinary war story, but a coming-of-age tale for the nation and its women. It is time to write these remarkable women back into our history, where they belong.
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